Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-05-06
AGRICULTURAL.
The value of Different Kinds OF Wood
lnn Emnl.

In reply to a correspondent who asks for
the relative value, for fuel Of the wood of
different trees, am exchange says:
Equal ,reights Of different varieties Of
wood. in similar conditions, produce equal
quantities ui heat According to careful
experiments of Mr. Marcus Bull. the rela
tive values of equal hulks cords of several
American woods are expressed "a follows
~hcllhark hickory, the highest in value, he-
ing taken as 100. pig nut hickory would bee
gi white oak. ~ white ash, - dog
wood. - scrub oak. % witch hazel. -
apple tree 80: red oak, go white beech,
81 black walnut, g. black or yellow
birch. G3 yellow oak, 60 hard maple, 60
white elm ~ red cedar 16 wild cherry.
- yellow pine ~ soft maple 81 chest
NUT. ~ yellow poplar, y butternut 81 ;
white birch, A. white pine, ~. Hoh. j.
s. Grinnell of Greenfield, Mass, IN an
elaborate report upon The Wastes OF the
Farm. says Careful experiments have
shown that the amounts of dry wood ne
cessarv 10 throw out a given heat are as
follows Hickory cords white oak,
4 "a hard maple, q 2-3 soft maple,
! % pine. 9 Leach equal to four tons of
anthracite coal. In respect to hickory
and hard maple, it viii he seen that these
authorities exactly agree. and they are III
substantial harmony so far as comparison
can be made a cord oil green WOOD hoius
a""uI oit Uon ~ Nu'e,. ile. .'''' II, -,
,r,t. Iii. ,,ote,. i absorbad and becomes
uuo,ailobl. for. any other uurpose.
This Is a question Of considerable interest
to all who either buy or sell wood, and to
all who keep wood fires and nearly the
whole rural population is here included
There i, evidently some mistake in the fig
ur.. given above. Few farmers will be
Geye. against the evidence of their own
senses. ON so-called scientific authority.
that hard maple is much less valuable for
ruel thau white ash. which. in the figures
piyen. stands at - against 60 for hard
mnple-euual to a value of 2Sl per cent
more than the maple. The simple fact.
known to all practical farmers. is that
white ash. tbourb valuable timber tree.
is rather moor wood for fuel. while the hard
mamie i, one of the best. The scientific
authority quoted. besides giving white ash
"A high value for fuel rates white beech.
red oak. scrub oak. birch. etc. above ma
science. i, below the average Of the kinds
given in the list.
The tables of Marcus Bull from which
these fuel values are taken, were published
in the transactions of an American sci
entifc society more than fifty years ago.
They appear in the cvclopedias and are
uuot.d about once a wear by several hundred
newspapers and periodicals, as far as We
are aware. without question of their accu-
racv The theory that 'eoual weights OF
different of wood. in similar conditions
produce equal quantities of heat" if true
is practically of no account in fixing tn,
actual value. because the similar cundi
tons as understood hy the chemist sci
dom or never occur in the natural wood o,
that dried in the usual way. Mr.. Stephei
T.. Sharples of Cambridge. Mass made an
alvses of the wood of IA large number o
the PRINCIPAL trees of the United States an,
calculated the actual and relative fuel valu
of each kind. The specimens upon whc